April 20, 2008

Oxford reject wins £100,000 place at Harvard

Steven Swinford and Jack Grimston

A TEENAGER from a state grammar school who was rejected by Oxford University despite predictions that he would obtain five A-grades has won a £100,000 scholarship to study at Harvard.

Mark Parker, 18, was turned down by Oxford after being interviewed in December for a place to study maths. So far he has scored 100% in five out of 10 maths modules and in one of his Harvard assessment tests.

David Clough, deputy headmaster of Ermysted’s, Parker’s school in North Yorkshire, said: “We kept stating Mark was an exceptional pupil. We had a pupil last year who gained 100% in 14 of their 15 A-level modules but Oxford turned them away too.”

Oxford’s decision to reject Parker, who is studying for A-levels in maths, further maths, chemistry, Latin and general studies, will fuel the row about whether universities are choosing the right students. In 2000 the rejection of the state school pupil Laura Spence set off a political storm. Only 53% of students admitted to Oxford are from the state sector.

Barry Sheerman, Labour chairman of the Commons schools select committee, called for an end to the system by which degree places are offered: “The problem with our universities is that they assess on predicted A-grades and interviews. American universities put students through five different tests.”

Parker’s rejection comes amid complaints in China about the “very poor quality” of some degrees taken by Chinese students in Britain. The problem will be highlighted at a meeting in Paris next month organised by a branch of the UN.

David Zweig, director of the centre on China’s international relations at Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, who wrote the paper, said: “Finding employment has become increasingly difficult as many returnees have an MA from very poor universities in England.” He said Chinese officials had asked him to “kick the Brits” over the issue.

A Whitehall source confirmed China had raised concerns that some UK universities are awarding degrees taught at further education colleges. About 50,000 Chinese study in this country and are a valuable source of income.

Bill Rammell, the universities minister, said: “UK higher education is internationally renowned for high quality, high graduate employability and high student satisfaction.”

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=801106&forum_id=1#9652168)

Mark Parker, 18, who studies at Ermysted's Grammar School, Skipton, won the scholarship, worth the equivalent of £101,900, to attend the internationally renowned university.

Oxford turned Mark down even though he has so far scored 100 per cent in five of his maths A-level modules. He also scored full marks in one of his Harvard SAT tests.

Last night his case reopened the row over the admission system to British universities and fears over a brain drain across the Atlantic...."

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=801106&forum_id=1#9652207)

By Marcella Bombardieri, Boston Globe Staff

Student satisfaction at Harvard College ranks near the bottom of a group of 31 elite private colleges, according to an analysis of survey results that finds that Harvard students are disenchanted with the faculty and social life on campus.

An internal Harvard memo, obtained by the Globe, provides numerical data that appear to substantiate some long-held stereotypes of Harvard: that undergraduate students often feel neglected by professors, and that they don't have as much fun as peers on many other campuses.

The group of 31 colleges, known as the Consortium on Financing Higher Education, or COFHE, includes all eight Ivy League schools, other top research universities like the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Stanford, and small colleges like Amherst and Wellesley.

''Harvard students are less satisfied with their undergraduate educations than the students at almost all of the other COFHE schools," according to the memo, dated Oct. 2004 and marked ''confidential." ''Harvard student satisfaction compares even less favorably to satisfaction at our closest peer institutions."

The 21-page memo, from staff researchers at Harvard to academic deans, documents student dissatisfaction with faculty availability, quality of instruction, quality of advising, and student life factors such as sense of community and social life on campus.

The raw data used in the memo come from surveys of graduating seniors in 2002, but are the most recent comparison available and are still consulted by Harvard administrators. On a five-point scale, Harvard students' overall satisfaction comes out to 3.95, compared to an average of 4.16 for the other 30 COFHE schools. Although the difference appears small, Harvard officials say they take the ''satisfaction gap" very seriously.

Only four schools scored lower than Harvard, but the schools were not named. (COFHE data are supposed to be confidential.) The memo also notes that Harvard's ''satisfaction gap" has existed since at least 1994.

''I think we have to concede that we are letting our students down," said Lawrence Buell, an English professor and former dean of undergraduate education. ''Our standard is that Harvard shoots to be the very best. If it shoots to be the very best in terms of research productivity and the stature of its faculty, why should it not shoot to be the very best in terms of the quality of the education that it delivers?"

Harvard officials refused to comment on the survey, but noted that they are already working to address the issues underscored by the data. They also said their internal numbers have improved since 2002. President Lawrence H. Summers has also spoken repeatedly about the need for students to have more opportunity to get to know their professors.

In a report released last April as part of an ongoing review of Harvard's curriculum, the need for more interaction between students and faculty was mentioned repeatedly''Harvard College should be known not only as an institution in which students can sit in lecture halls to learn from faculty who make original contributions to knowledge, but also as a place where they may encounter, and challenge, these scholars directly in seminar and small class settings," the report said.

But right now, students can go through four years on campus with limited contact with professors. They often take large lecture classes, divided into sections headed by graduate student ''teaching fellows." Small classes are frequently taught by temporary instructors instead of regular, tenure-track professors. And in many cases, advisers are not professors, either, but graduate students, administrators, or full-time advisers.

''I've definitely had great professors, but most of the time you have to chase them down and show initiative if you want to get to know them," said Kathy Lee, a junior majoring in psychology. ''I've had a lot of trouble getting to know enough faculty to get the recommendations I need for medical school."

On the five-point scale, Harvard students gave an average score of 2.92 on faculty availability, compared to an average 3.39 for the other COFHE schools. Harvard students gave a 3.16 for quality of instruction, compared to a 3.31 for the other schools, and a 2.54 for quality of advising in their major, compared to 2.86 for the other schools.

Students gave Harvard a 2.62 for social life on campus, compared to a 2.89 for the other schools, and a 2.53 for sense of community, compared to 2.8.

Harvard Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences William C. Kirby recently said that Harvard's ratio of students to tenured and tenure-track faculty is 11-to-1, compared to an 8-1 ratio at Princeton University. Harvard has already boosted the number of faculty by 10 percent in the last five years, from 610 to 672 professors, in part to improve the student-faculty ratio. Kirby's plan now is to expand the faculty to 750 by 2010, and possibly to 800 after that.

In the meantime, Harvard is trying to offer more intimate classroom settings. For example, four years ago it offered only about 30 small seminar classes for freshmen. This year there are 115, most taught by senior faculty, according to Dean of the College Benedict H. Gross.

Students' experiences also vary widely from department to department. Some of the most popular -- and thus overburdened -- majors, such as economics or government, have fairly low ratings on internal student surveys, while small majors like classics and philosophy get better ratings.

On the social front, students complain that Harvard lacks places where students can socialize and has so many rules that it is difficult to hold a party on-campus, where almost all undergraduates live.

The Harvard administration has also been working hard in the last few years to improve social life. The school has been experimenting with popular ''pub nights" on some Fridays, and has allowed campus parties to stay open an hour later, until 2 a.m. They have tried other novelty programs from dodge ball tournaments to speed dating, and doubled the amount of athletic equipment in the main gym used by undergraduates.

Many students are pessimistic that the curriculum review is going to change what some call ''a culture of mutual avoidance," where students and faculty often don't make an effort to meet. Professors and students alike also say there's a hurried and stressful atmosphere on campus that can get in the way of building mentor relationships. After all, Harvard has been trying to improve teaching and advising for years, long before the current administration.

Matt Glazer, president of the student government, said it's hard to have much confidence in the administration's commitment to fixing the problems.

''When the system that has dismal advising is giving recommendations on how to make advising better, the question is why aren't they doing that right now?" Glazer said.

http://www.boston.com/news/education/higher/articles/2005/03/29/student_life_at_harvard_lags_peer_schools_poll_finds/

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=801106&forum_id=1#9656683)

In general, it's important to remember that the interview still matters at Oxbridge, as it does no where in the US, where it has become a half-hour rubber-stamp formality at many unis, designed more to keep alumni feeling happy and involved than evaluate students. Many Oxbridge faculties--that is, the academics, not alumni proxies--interview half their applicants, a process which generally takes several days for each applicant and often involves sitting exams (A-level marks having been all but inflated away into meaninglessness). and thus make the largest cut on the interview alone, not essays or grades alone. From reading this gentleman's blog, he wanted very badly to get out of the UK as long ago as last June. Perhaps that became quite clear in his interview.

With grade inflation at A-level and the idiosyncrasies of the Oxbridge tutorial system, I think this is all completely understandable.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=801106&forum_id=1#9656556)

* Polly Curtis

* The Guardian, Thursday August 5 2004

Laura Spence, the state school pupil who was refused a place at Oxford University in 2000 despite a predicted string of A grades at A-level, today steps back into the political fray with an appeal to British students to consider taking their degree in America.

Ms Spence broke her three-year silence - during which she has gained a degree in biochemistry from Harvard - to urge sixth-formers to consider a US university education over a British one, claiming hers had made her "substantially more well-rounded, confident and better prepared to make contributions to medicine".

She had to work harder than the American students to stay on top of coursework and essays, she said, but the results were worth it: American degrees are "broader" than British ones and campus life offered an "astounding" range of extra-curricular activities.

Four years ago the then 18-year-old from Tyneside was at the centre of a political row over Oxford's admissions procedures after she had failed to secure a place to study medicine there despite being predicted a string of A grades in her A-levels.

The chancellor, Gordon Brown, accused Oxford admissions tutors of "old school tie" elitism against pupils from state schools describing Magdalen College's decision an "absolute scandal".

Ms Spence responded by turning her back on the British system and securing a $65,000 (£37,000) scholarship to study biochemistry at Harvard in Massachusetts, from where she has now graduated with "above average" results.

In an interview in today's Times Higher Education Supplement, Ms Spence says: "The US-style 'liberal arts' education requires that each student learns a broader, more balanced curriculum while still achieving depth in their specialist subject.

"Unlike the more focused, professionally oriented UK degrees, this style of education is particularly suitable for students who don't want to limit themselves to specific career paths straight out of high school."

She urged other students not to be put off by the cost of studying in America. "While at first glance, tuition fees may seem astronomically prohibitive - $37,000 a year at Harvard - there are many forms of financial aid available.

With the British government planning higher fees for students, it could become even more desirable, she added.

Describing her transition from the British state school system to an American Ivy League university, she says: "The style of education at Harvard was more of an adjustment for me than for American students," she said. She had to take extra courses to catch up in maths and foreign languages because she didn't have an A-level in them.

Ms Spence has returned to the UK to take a postgraduate course in medicine with the aim of becoming a doctor.

However, she refused to reveal which university she was planning to go to. Oxford University does offer a postgraduate degree in medicine but a spokesperson said they would not comment on individual students.

A total of 8,000 British students opt to study in America every year.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=801106&forum_id=1#9656781)

By Marcella Bombardieri, Boston Globe Staff

Student satisfaction at Harvard College ranks near the bottom of a group of 31 elite private colleges, according to an analysis of survey results that finds that Harvard students are disenchanted with the faculty and social life on campus.

An internal Harvard memo, obtained by the Globe, provides numerical data that appear to substantiate some long-held stereotypes of Harvard: that undergraduate students often feel neglected by professors, and that they don't have as much fun as peers on many other campuses.

The group of 31 colleges, known as the Consortium on Financing Higher Education, or COFHE, includes all eight Ivy League schools, other top research universities like the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Stanford, and small colleges like Amherst and Wellesley.

''Harvard students are less satisfied with their undergraduate educations than the students at almost all of the other COFHE schools," according to the memo, dated Oct. 2004 and marked ''confidential." ''Harvard student satisfaction compares even less favorably to satisfaction at our closest peer institutions."

The 21-page memo, from staff researchers at Harvard to academic deans, documents student dissatisfaction with faculty availability, quality of instruction, quality of advising, and student life factors such as sense of community and social life on campus.

The raw data used in the memo come from surveys of graduating seniors in 2002, but are the most recent comparison available and are still consulted by Harvard administrators. On a five-point scale, Harvard students' overall satisfaction comes out to 3.95, compared to an average of 4.16 for the other 30 COFHE schools. Although the difference appears small, Harvard officials say they take the ''satisfaction gap" very seriously.

Only four schools scored lower than Harvard, but the schools were not named. (COFHE data are supposed to be confidential.) The memo also notes that Harvard's ''satisfaction gap" has existed since at least 1994.

''I think we have to concede that we are letting our students down," said Lawrence Buell, an English professor and former dean of undergraduate education. ''Our standard is that Harvard shoots to be the very best. If it shoots to be the very best in terms of research productivity and the stature of its faculty, why should it not shoot to be the very best in terms of the quality of the education that it delivers?"

Harvard officials refused to comment on the survey, but noted that they are already working to address the issues underscored by the data. They also said their internal numbers have improved since 2002. President Lawrence H. Summers has also spoken repeatedly about the need for students to have more opportunity to get to know their professors.

In a report released last April as part of an ongoing review of Harvard's curriculum, the need for more interaction between students and faculty was mentioned repeatedly''Harvard College should be known not only as an institution in which students can sit in lecture halls to learn from faculty who make original contributions to knowledge, but also as a place where they may encounter, and challenge, these scholars directly in seminar and small class settings," the report said.

But right now, students can go through four years on campus with limited contact with professors. They often take large lecture classes, divided into sections headed by graduate student ''teaching fellows." Small classes are frequently taught by temporary instructors instead of regular, tenure-track professors. And in many cases, advisers are not professors, either, but graduate students, administrators, or full-time advisers.

''I've definitely had great professors, but most of the time you have to chase them down and show initiative if you want to get to know them," said Kathy Lee, a junior majoring in psychology. ''I've had a lot of trouble getting to know enough faculty to get the recommendations I need for medical school."

On the five-point scale, Harvard students gave an average score of 2.92 on faculty availability, compared to an average 3.39 for the other COFHE schools. Harvard students gave a 3.16 for quality of instruction, compared to a 3.31 for the other schools, and a 2.54 for quality of advising in their major, compared to 2.86 for the other schools.

Students gave Harvard a 2.62 for social life on campus, compared to a 2.89 for the other schools, and a 2.53 for sense of community, compared to 2.8.

Harvard Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences William C. Kirby recently said that Harvard's ratio of students to tenured and tenure-track faculty is 11-to-1, compared to an 8-1 ratio at Princeton University. Harvard has already boosted the number of faculty by 10 percent in the last five years, from 610 to 672 professors, in part to improve the student-faculty ratio. Kirby's plan now is to expand the faculty to 750 by 2010, and possibly to 800 after that.

In the meantime, Harvard is trying to offer more intimate classroom settings. For example, four years ago it offered only about 30 small seminar classes for freshmen. This year there are 115, most taught by senior faculty, according to Dean of the College Benedict H. Gross.

Students' experiences also vary widely from department to department. Some of the most popular -- and thus overburdened -- majors, such as economics or government, have fairly low ratings on internal student surveys, while small majors like classics and philosophy get better ratings.

On the social front, students complain that Harvard lacks places where students can socialize and has so many rules that it is difficult to hold a party on-campus, where almost all undergraduates live.

The Harvard administration has also been working hard in the last few years to improve social life. The school has been experimenting with popular ''pub nights" on some Fridays, and has allowed campus parties to stay open an hour later, until 2 a.m. They have tried other novelty programs from dodge ball tournaments to speed dating, and doubled the amount of athletic equipment in the main gym used by undergraduates.

Many students are pessimistic that the curriculum review is going to change what some call ''a culture of mutual avoidance," where students and faculty often don't make an effort to meet. Professors and students alike also say there's a hurried and stressful atmosphere on campus that can get in the way of building mentor relationships. After all, Harvard has been trying to improve teaching and advising for years, long before the current administration.

Matt Glazer, president of the student government, said it's hard to have much confidence in the administration's commitment to fixing the problems.

''When the system that has dismal advising is giving recommendations on how to make advising better, the question is why aren't they doing that right now?" Glazer said.

http://www.boston.com/news/education/higher/articles/2005/03/29/student_life_at_harvard_lags_peer_schools_poll_finds/

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=801106&forum_id=1#9656791)

Condemned by every syllable she ever uttered.

By law she should be taken out and hung,

For the cold-blooded murder of the English tongue.

Eliza Aaoooww! Henry imitating her Aaoooww!

Heaven's! What a noise!

This is what the British population,

Calls an elementary education. Pickering Oh,

Counsel, I think you picked a poor example. Henry Did I?

Hear them down in Soho square,

Dropping "h's" everywhere.

Speaking English anyway they like.

You sir, did you go to school?

Man Wadaya tike me for, a fool?

Henry No one taught him 'take' instead of 'tike!

Why can't the English teach their children how to speak?

This verbal class distinction, by now,

Should be antique. If you spoke as she does, sir,

Instead of the way you do,

Why, you might be selling flowers, too!

Hear a Yorkshireman, or worse,

Hear a Cornishman converse,

I'd rather hear a choir singing flat.

Chickens cackling in a barn Just like this one!

Eliza Garn! Henry I ask you, sir, what sort of word is that?

It's "Aoooow" and "Garn" that keep her in her place.

Not her wretched clothes and dirty face.

Why can't the English teach their children how to speak?

This verbal class distinction by now should be antique.

If you spoke as she does, sir, Instead of the way you do,

Why, you might be selling flowers, too.

An Englishman's way of speaking absolutely classifies him,

The moment he talks he makes some other

Englishman despise him.

One common language I'm afraid we'll never get.

Oh, why can't the English learn to set

A good example to people whose

English is painful to your ears?

The Scotch and the Irish leave you close to tears.

There even are places where English completely

disappears. In America, they haven't used it for years!

Why can't the English teach their children how to speak?

Norwegians learn Norwegian; the Greeks have taught their

Greek. In France every Frenchman knows

his language fro "A" to "Zed"

The French never care what they do, actually,

as long as they pronounce in properly.

Arabians learn Arabian with the speed of summer lightning.

And Hebrews learn it backwards,

which is absolutely frightening.

But use proper English you're regarded as a freak.

Why can't the English,

Why can't the English learn to speak?

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=801106&forum_id=1#9682926)